A lone pirate ship sailed across the skies; the area it flew through was Armada territory. The captains knew that fact. Their names were Ryan and Regina Windlass of Krokotopia. For now the skies were clear. Ryan stood behind the wheel of his wife's skiff, meanwhile, below deck Regina was tending to her infant twins Alex and Krystal. She smiled as Alex held his sister is his little arms.
Above deck Ryan's first mate Gaspard was searching with his telescope. That's when he spotted an Armada ship "Captain!" he cried "Armada ship on the horizon!" Ryan was suddenly alert "Gaspard, take to the helm while I go below deck." The guinea pig scratched his beard and ran for the ship wheel. Below deck, Regina had just separated her children to separate cradles. Ryan opened his mouth, but what he said cut off by the sound of cannon fire. Ryan drew his pistol and tucked it under his sleeping son's blanket and placed his musketeer's medal around his neck. He kissed his son's forehead and returned to the main deck. Regina took her talisman off her neck and placed it into Krystal's cradle before following her husband.
The armada ship dropped anchor and then came the gangplanks dropped. 4 armada men marched on followed by their leader, The Deacon. Ryan and Regina put their weapons down as the deacon laughed. Ryan could never tell how this man was feeling because of the mask he wore to hide his face.
"Very impressive my pirate friends, but you're not very clever. There is a bounty on you two, 20,000 gold for your heads prior to your execution. Let's go. With that, Ryan, Regina, and Gaspard were escorted onto the Armada ship and into the brig. They were searched for additional weapons and locked away. As the Armada ship pulled away, Regina let out a silent "No." When she heard the Deacon yell "What are you waiting for? Sink her!"
The Windlass's ship exploded in one last round of cannon fire and Regina broke down into tears. Ryan held his wife close "They could have survived my dear." He kissed his wife one more time before the Deacon came down the stairs. "There," said cruelly "Was that so hard?" Regina glared at him "You sick bastard. Our children were on there." The Deacon just turned and went back up the stairs. The ship banked a hard left and sailed away into the sunrise.
Back in the wreckage two cradles drifted apart, one caught a wind lane and drifted away, resting on a piece of wreckage. The other cradle was scooped up by a Grizzlehiem fishing ship. Oh what a surprise that those bears got when they found an infant human girl sleeping in it and clutching a witchdoctor's talisman. The ship immediately raised full sail and set off for home.
Alex's cradle was scooped up by an imperial trade ship from Mooshu. The crew took the baby in and took him home. It would be over 16 years before the Windlass siblings would ever see each other again.